Street Fighter X Tekken's Poor Sales Due to "Cannibalism"

[The Wooster]

Street Fighter X Tekken's Poor Sales Due to "Cannibalism"

Apparently, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 ate Street Fighter X Tekken's sales with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Cannibals, don't they just ruin everything? Particularly fighting game launches. Despite having sold over a million copies of Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom recently admitted the game didn't meet the company's presumably lofty expectations. Because of the controversial on-disk DLC? No. Because an upgraded "Super" edition seems inevitable? Nope. It's not even because some of the game's mechanics are almost hopelessly broken. [http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2012/may/13/capcom-considering-drastic-changes-street-fighter-x-tekken-talks-darkstalkers-and-sf4/ ] Apparently, the problem is one Capcom is intimately familiar with: market saturation.

"Sales of Street Fighter X Tekken have fallen short of our plan. We believe one of the causes is cannibalism because of the large number of other games in this genre that were launched within a short time," Capcom admitted in a Q&A [http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/explanation.html#qa_4q] session following its recent earnings release.

As well as having to fend off competition from Capcom's own games, SFXT has had to duke it out with several potential competitors, including Mortal Kombat, Skullgirls, Soul Calibur V and the latest installment of BlazBlue. Alone, none of those games have the mix of competitive and casual appeal to compete with a game with Street Fighter in its title, but combined they could certainly suck away more than a few sales.

Ironically, the game with actual cannibals didn't get cannibalized. The Q&A also mentioned that Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, which is pretty much the gaming equivalent of being stabbed in the heart by your own grandmother, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9525-Resident-Evil-Operation-Raccoon-City-Review] shipped over two million copies, which "shows the success of our decision to try the new approach of using an alliance with an overseas development company." You may now begin smiling wryly.

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[Lunar Templar]

lol

nice excuse, why can't they just admit they made a game no one really wanted?

 

[The Wooster]

and the latest installment of Blazeblue.

BlazBlue. I swear, Escapist people have NO journalistic integrity..

Whoops. I swear, I always either spell that wrong, or say it wrong "Blaaaazblue." I'm going to have to turn my Tager License in now.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I thought canables had protested the game

 

[Amnestic]

Aww, Mumbles is gonna be so happy.

I'm not interested in SFXT. The only fighting series which has perked my interest in recent years is BlazBlue. I just wish they had slightly better EU release dates >_<

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Being a PC gamer, I don't get very many fighting games at all, even though the keyboard controls aren't that much worse than a standard controller and there are just as many arcade sticks available for those that want them. And with the blame game being played by Capcom, BlazBlue Continuum Shift using GFWL and the old Mortal Kombat trilogy not actually being that good, I think I'll just wait for Skullgirls.

...Which, hopefully, I won't be irredeemably terrible at. Particularly since it can be bothered with a tutorial.

 

[RaikuFA]

I'm gonna say what I said in another topic yet tweaked.

I don't believe them. They think it was "cannibalism". But it tanked for more than that.

1. They promoted it with a neckbeard who said something that every fighting game "elite" wants to say.

2. Everyone knows a updated version will come out soon. Probably announced next month.

3. They supported SOPA and weren't ashamed of it.

4. "If you don't play fighters or zombie games, get out, we don't want you." Was their attitude starting last year.

5. They held some Twilight prequel fighter hostage in exchange for this games sales.

 

[MrBrightside919]

This is probably why they are "re-evaluating" their DLC delivery...because people didn't buy SFxT...because of the On Disk DLC...because they TRIED to trick gamers into buying something they already purchased once and nobody liked that...

...and it all leads back to Kevin Bacon...

 

[Caliostro]

Oh ok, it was cannibals then.

Had absolutely nothing to do with SFxT being an inexcusable pile of shite, a gemstone filled with potential buried under a veritable tonnage of fecal matter-based design decisions... Guess the game was secretly good, just nobody noticed it. Nobody.

It had nothing to do with "gems" being the stupidest fucking idea possible for a fighting game... Nop, they were a good idea! It's not like their very design is the antithesis of a fighting game.

Also no relation with the fuckload of DLC, some of it core to the game and on-disk... Gamers just love having to pay 20 bucks or more for the complete core game... That's already ready on launch and on the disk they bought.

Get the fuck out Capcom... You fucked up. This game is an abject failure. Man up, take it, and fix it.

 

[DTH1337]

So, Street Fighter X Tekken didn't sell well because of other fighting games?

No Capcom, I believe it didn't sell well because you decided to make some idiotic decisions with designing this game including the on-disc DLC.

Just for once Capcom, admit that you screwed up and stop trying to pin the blame of your failures on gamers and other games.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

and here is the real reason...... Who the fuck chose Tekken? now I like me a bit of Tekken, but if I want a 2D fighter cross over with street fighter, it's Mortal Kombat. Tekken Tag 2 is clearly going to offer all the 3D fighting I want!

I think this was originally the plan before the new MK sold so well and they realised they don't need SF to help sell their IP

 

[Vault Citizen]

I can't speak for others but the reasons I haven't bought it are

1) On disk locked content
2) I don't trust the director when he says there won't be a super version.

If I do get this it will be when I know for sure that there isn't a version with all content included coming and even then I will probably buy it preowned so that I can limit the extra cost caused by the dlc.

 

[Kopikatsu]

The only reason I've heard that people dislike RE:ORC is because they expected it to be something that the developers explicitly stated it would not be when the game was first announced. That is, a horror game.

 

[Mahorfeus]

I have to admit, I find it funny that UMvC3 is evidently selling so well even after all the rage about the cancellation of the DLC for the original. Blame the earthquake, apparently.

This game just didn't feel like it had nearly enough casual appeal. Alt text: I can't win by smashing my face against the controller. I know how I like my fighting games.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

1990: BLAME THE VIOLENCE
2000: BLAME THE SYSTEM
2005: BLAME THE PIRATES
2010: BLAME USED GAMES
2012: BLAME OTHER GAMES
When the sun becomes a dark chunk of coal the size of your forehead: BLAME OURSELVES!

2020: Blame the weather on release day
2030: Blame human free will

On topic:

I hope this teaches publishers a lesson that if your going to do loads of dlc and then release a complete edition further down the line your just screwing yourself over as customers will quickly get wise to your plan.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

I was very happy with SF2... and some of its variations. Then I was very happy with Tekken... pretty much every Tekken there was.

Then came SFIV, and I'm still trying to like it. SF x Tekken doesn't tickle me fancy, Tekken x SF might... if it does come out, that is.

I sold our copy of McV3 the moment they started the DLC nonsense, so it's not 'cannibalism' that made me not buy SF x Tekken. It's SFIV... that, and the fact that we still very much enjoy the CPS-2 boards of MvC2 and X-Men vs. Street Fighter. They've been great from day one, and they don't come with no melonfarming DLC. Hardware issues and failing CRT screens, yes, but no DLC. I like it that way.

 

[hermes]

1990: BLAME THE VIOLENCE
2000: BLAME THE SYSTEM
2005: BLAME THE PIRATES
2010: BLAME USED GAMES
2012: BLAME OTHER GAMES
When the sun becomes a dark chunk of coal the size of your forehead: BLAME OURSELVES!

Considering most of the games they could blame for cannibalizing sales for SFxT are them to begin with, I guess this is as close as we can get. In other words: BLAME THE OVERFLOW OF FIGHTING GAMES WITH MINOR ITERATIONS IN THE MARKET.

Also, blame the genre savvy gamers that know you are just going to release a Super Edition pretty soon, no matter how much you swear you would never do before... Most people I know are not going to jump into that boat because we know it won't last. I am expecting them to announce it at E3 or TGS this year. If it doesn't happen, I just lost interest in it anyway.